Being 2013, it would be good to feel like we recognise the achievements of women every day, but this still isn’t necessarily the case. Luckily, in the past few weeks, we’ve had a few built in occasions such as “International Women’s Day” and “Mothers’ Day” which encourage us to think about the amazing contribution women make… and hopefully these dates serve as triggers to remind us why we should celebrate the achievements of women all year round.
Amidst these very worthy celebrations of the achievements of women, there were a couple of moments in the past week that made me pivot between pausing proudly to ponder how far we've come and stopping firmly in my tracks… in realisation of how far we still have to go. These included:
1. An e-mail from a childhood friend
Last week, I received a beautiful email from a childhood friend of mine. She sent this email to a small group of her friendship circle, featuring women currently based in Europe, Africa, Asia, North America and beyond - all of whom she'd gone to school / university with at some point during her journey. In this email, she eloquently shared her news on a city move and an update about her job situation intertwined with mention of her evolving relationship. I had opened this message when on the go between appointments and found myself stopping in the rain to read and re-read this message. I smiled. Not just due to the fact that I'd received what felt like the equivalent of a personal letter in the post (like back in the day before postal content was more or less exclusive to bills, bank statements and takeaway menus!) but also because she seemed to be living the dream. Not in a million dollar mansion "baller" kind of way but in the modern, 21st century way of balancing your personal / relationship life with your career plans. Adventure, uncertainty, goal setting and more… it was all there. This didn't sound like the life of a girl who would be burdened with a series of what ifs. Instead, she was out there, living, loving and ensuring that she was making enough proactive decisions to ensure that life wasn't happening to her... She was actively living it. For that reason, I wanted to share that story today- just as a mini nudge if needed, to make sure you're living yours too!
2. A knee-jerk Facebook status
This encounter was also prompted by correspondence with a childhood acquaintance, but admittedly with the opposite, less heart-warming effect to what I have described above. On International Women's Day, this FB friend made a comment along the lines of "If I ever have a daughter, she won’t be posting quotes from ‘blank slates’ like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn”. Instead, this Facebook contact of mine insisted that his future daughter wouldn’t cite inspiration as women “whose sole talent was in being pretty” and he instead suggested citing “Pankhurst or Marie Curie?”
What? I thought. WHAAAAT? I baulked at his objection, disagreeing on so many levels and here's the main one...
The idea that someone, be it a dad, brother or other (male)
acquaintance may feel that he is in a position to be instructional regarding
who inspires his (hypothetical) daughter scares me! The fact that Audrey
Hepburn was actually a multi-lingual humanitarian is almost insignificant – it is
the dictating of who should and who should be deemed inspirational that doesn’t
feel acceptable to me. As current / future parents, we can ensure that we give
our girls a wide range of role models, from mothers to politicians and more –
but we belittle any progress we are making for women by restricting their
thoughts.
So… whether or not you were involved and tweeting about #IWD2013, celebrating
Mothers’ day or whether these dates passed you by entirely earlier this month –
I have a challenge for you. In the spirit of being true to who and what inspires you, tell
three women in your life (these can be colleagues, friends, family etc.) why
you admire them. Do it before the end of
March. Up for it? Do come back and share your story of how you got on…
